National Secular Society asks Government to clarify religious influence on exhumations from public cemeteries

For immediate release.
The National Secular Society (NSS) has written to the Government to clarify whether the Church of England is seeking to block the exhumation of remains not buried on Church land, or else influencing relevant Government policy.

The Church of England has objected on doctrinal grounds to an increase in the number of people seeking to move the buried remains of relatives if they relocate away from the burial site, a trend which is becoming more popular with an average of 25 such applications being received by the Ministry of Justice every week.[1]

This significant increase in exhumations has led the Church of England to complain that burials should be permanent. "The permanent burial of the physical body, or the burial of cremated remains, should be seen as a symbol of our entrusting the person to God for resurrection," a Church spokesperson said.[2]

NSS executive director Keith Porteous Wood has written to Caroline Dinenage MP, the Minister responsible for burials and cremation policy, and asked that the Government not heed the Church's theological objections to applications for exhumations of remains over which the Ministry of Justice has control. While the NSS accepts the Church is "entitled to refuse such requests" for exhumation on Church land, the National Secular Society hopes that the Church will take "compassionate factors into account" when making decisions.

Mr Porteous Wood commented: "Relatives of the bereaved derive great comfort from visiting graves, and many visit them weekly. If the relatives move a long way this would be impractical on grounds of cost and time, and possibly disability or age.

"Where the body is buried in land not under the control of religious bodies, and the decision on exhumation falls to the Ministry of Justice, we believe it inappropriate that religious objections should play any part in their decision," he added.

The Church however believes: "We are commending the person to God, saying farewell to them (for their 'journey'), entrusting them in peace for their ultimate destination, with us, the heavenly Jerusalem. This commending, entrusting, resting in peace does not sit easily with 'portable remains', which suggests the opposite: a holding on to the 'symbol' of a human life rather than a giving back to God."[3]

The National Secular Society is calling on the Church to take personal considerations into account compassionately, and has urged the Government to clarify whether theological objections are playing an influence on exhumation requests from non-Church grounds.

Background

While applications to the Ministry of Justice are on the rise, the Church has declined several requests in recent years, including applications from elderly relatives and people not physically able to visit the graves of their loved ones.

An example of a refused exhumation request came in 2014, when a judge of a Church of England consistory (ecclesiastical) court declined to allow a daughter to have her father's cremated remains exhumed so that they could be scattered together with her recently deceased mother.[4]

In July 2015, a judge in a Church of England consistory (ecclesiastical) court refused the request of a wheelchair-bound pensioner to move her mother's cremated remains, despite the fact that the elderly woman was not able to visit the grave.[5]

In another case, in 2006, involving ashes, a widow who was too unwell to maintain her late husband's burial plot requested that his ashes be exhumed, but her request was refused by a Church of England judge who said that remains were not "portable". The judge said, "The general principle is that exhumation will only be granted in exceptional circumstances."[6]

It seems that compassionate grounds are not deemed "exceptional" and they probably only apply when an error has occurred relating to the burial.

Additional information

The Ministry of Justice "application for a licence for the removal of buried human remains (including cremated remains) in England & Wales" can be seen here.

About the National Secular Society

The National Secular Society is a not-for-profit non-governmental organisation founded in 1866, funded by its members and by donations. It campaigns for a diverse society where all are free to practise their faith, change it, or to have a faith at all. The NSS advocates separation of religion and state and promotes secularism as the best means to create a society in which people of all religions or none can live together fairly and cohesively.

Contact

For more information please contact the National Secular Society on +44 (0)20 7404 3126 or by email at admin@secularism.org.uk.

[1] http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3182914/Officials-receive-25-applications-WEEK-exhume-human-remains-Church-criticises-trend-taking-loved-ones-people-home.html

[2] http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/595436/Relatives-moving-home-deceased

[3] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1530575/Church-of-England-rejects-widows-plea-to-dig-up-husbands-ashes.html

[4] http://www.expressandstar.com/news /local-news/2014/11/17/church-reject-familys-request-to-exhume-ashes/

[5] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/11745279/Church-refuses-to-allow-exhumation-request-from-pensioner-unable-to-attend-mothers-grave.html

[6] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1530575/Church-of-England-rejects-widows-plea-to-dig-up-husbands-ashes.html